Rudder with sliding pivoting piston coupling

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a rudder for sea vessels, consisting of a main rudder and a fin which is coupled thereto by means of a vertical piston ( 15 ), restrictively guided by the main rudder and provided with a horizontal piston ( 11 ) The vertical piston ( 15 ) and the horizontal piston ( 11 ) are connected to each other via a hinge bolt to form a sliding pivoting piston coupling ( 100 ) and a bearing housing ( 16 ) of the vertical piston ( 15 ) is fixed to the hull of the vessel. In order to reduce the forces acting upon the sliding bearing of the vertical coupling bolt and horizontal pivoting bolt in addition to the hinge bolts connecting said bolts, the vertical piston ( 15 ) is supported by an additional counter bearing ( 27 ) on the hull of the vessel.

FIELD OF APPLICATION

This invention relates to a rudder for seagoing vessels consisting of amain rudder and a forced guided fin with a sliding swivel pistonarticulation consisting of a horizontal piston and a vertical pistonwhich are connected with each other over an universal joint by means ofa hinged bolt with the characteristics indicated in the preamble ofclaim 1.

PRIOR ART

A ship rudder construction of the above mentioned type is known byDE-A-23 53 934 with a propeller at least partially provided with acasing with an auxiliary rudder, articulated on the rear edge of themain rudder, which is connected with an operating mechanism whichcontains a driving rod movable in a guide bush and which is rotatablyconnected with the hull in a surface plane approximately vertical to theaxis about a pivot situated behind this surface plane.

For this ship rudder construction, the guide bush is placed on theauxiliary rudder approximately horizontally and practically parallel tothe rudder face, while the driving rod is positioned rotatable on anaxis placed behind the rudder axis and has such a length that thecooperation between the driving rod and the guide bush works for arudder steering lock of 90°.

The guiding and positioning of the driving rod positioned at one end onthe hull for steering the fin takes place by means of the guide bushwhich is fixed to the fin horizontally in the upper area of the fin andthrough which the driving rod passes. The guide bush as a slidingbearing shows a slide packing in its inner space.

The driving rod is positioned in a practically horizontal surface planerotatable on an axle muff (articulation bolt) which engages into an axlemuff casing and which is locked at its free end by a locking bolt.

The EP 0 051 822 describes a further development of the DE 23 53 934.This ship rudder construction consists of a main rudder with anarticulated and forced guided fin. The forced guided fin is configuredwith a sliding bearing for the swivel pin articulated at the one end onthe hull.

The main rudder and the forced guided fin articulated on the main rudderare provided with a sliding swivel piston articulation made of a slidingbearing configured on the fin for a swivel piston. An articulation boltfixed with its projecting end on an articulation bolt fixed on the hullis thus positioned swivellable.

In the patent document EP 0 811 552 which develops further the EP 0 051822, the articulation bolt as sliding bearing is additionally designedas a piston for avoiding undesired high edge pressures as well onto thevertical articulation bolt as on the horizontal swivel pin and onto thebolt connecting sliding swivel piston articulation.

Through this measure, degrees of freedom are created for the rudder orits movable parts which guarantee that no bearing surface is chargedstronger than necessary by the effect of high charged edges.

This configuration allows movements which are obtained by the use of ahinged bolt between both pistons guided in cases so that movements in anangle area of ±90° are possible, whereas the known systems are rigidlydesigned by the predetermined angle of 90°. Forces caused by a wallpressure onto the rudder and acting onto the system and arising bendingmoments will be compensated by the cylindrical piston configuration andjammings by the movable sliding swivel piston articulation.

However, the disadvantage is that the system of the sliding swivelpiston articulation with the biggest possible degrees of freedom canonly absorb forces which can be tolerated with respect to the wearbehaviour of the sliding bearings of the articulation bolt or of theswivel pin and a hinged bolt which connects the bolts. In particular forships with bigger rudder installations, the bigger forces acting ontothe system are so big that a ship rudder construction according to theembodied known solutions can only be used under conditions or can nolonger be used.

Aim, Solution, Advantage

The aim of this invention is to improve the rudder with the slidingswivel piston articulation in such a manner that the arising forces anddeveloping bending moments can be taken up. However, all the parts canfurther be connected with each other in such a way that movements withsufficient degrees of freedom are kept up and that the existingfunctionality is not limited herewith.

The rudder for seagoing vessels with a sliding swivel pistonarticulation according to the invention with the characteristicsindicated in claim 1 offers the advantage that the use of rudders withsliding swivel piston articulation is possible in bigger seagoing shipsfor which the arising forces are bigger than in the ships equipped untilnow.

Due to the fact that, for fixing the sliding swivel piston articulationon the hull, the vertical piston has at least one thrust bearing, theforces acting onto the sliding bearing of the vertical articulation boltand of the horizontal swivel pin as well as onto the hinged boltconnecting the bolts are considerably minimized and the wear occurringis reduced to a tolerable extent.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the thrust bearing isconnected with the hull with at least one horizontal cross bar over avertical cross bar so that a part of the forces can be derived into thehull and the wished stability and wear reduction of the sliding swivelpiston articulation can be reached.

Further preferred embodiments of the invention result from thecharacteristics indicated in the subclaims.

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be explained below in more detail in an embodiment byreferring to the attached drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a graphical view of a rudder with a fin and with a slidingswivel piston articulation.

FIG. 2 shows a schematical view of the sliding pistons connected witheach other of the sliding swivel piston articulation and of a thrustbearing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION AND BEST WAY FOR CARRYING OUT THEINVENTION

A rudder represented in FIG. 1 consists of a main rudder 20 with a fin10 which is placed swivellable on this main rudder and which is forcedguided which is provided with a sliding swivel piston articulation 100.The sliding swivel piston articulation 100 essentially consists of anuniversal joint with a hinged bolt 14 and of the bearing housings 12 and16 which can be seen on FIG. 1 of an associated horizontal piston 11 andof a vertical piston 15 which are represented together on FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 shows the components of the sliding swivel piston articulation100. It consists, as already described, of the horizontal piston 11 andof the vertical piston 15. The horizontal piston 11, also designated asswivel pin, is placed movable in the bearing housing 12 and shows a bush13 which is preferably made of bronze. The swivel pin 11 projecting outof the bearing housing 12 is movably connected with the vertical piston15, also designated as articulation bolt, over a hinged bolt 14. Thevertical piston 15 is placed movable in the bearing housing 16. Thebearing housing 16 also has a bush 17 which is also preferably made ofbronze. The hinged bolt 14 guarantees that even a variation of thehorizontal piston from the 90° position can be compensated.

For damping piston strokes, i.e. for the vibration and oscillationdamping, the bearing housing 16 of the vertical piston 15 is closed atits end turned to the hull and forms a pad 30 made of an absorbingsubstance above the vertical piston 15. The sealing of the bearinghousing 16 constitutes simultaneously a stopper for the verticalmovement of the vertical piston 15.

The sliding swivel piston articulation 100 is fixed on the fin 10(FIG. 1) over the horizontal piston 11 situated in the bearing housing12 for fulfilling its function while the vertical piston 15 has a thrustbearing 27 for the additional taking up of forces. The thrust bearing 27(FIG. 2) is situated at the end of the vertical piston 15 which isopposite the hull. For reasons of clarity, the thrust bearing 28 is notrepresented in FIG. 1.

The thrust bearing 27 has a bush 21 and a bearing bush 22. The bush 21constitutes a long wearing lining of the bearing bush 22. On the side ofthe thrust bearing 27 turned to the vertical piston 15, the bush 21 hasa supporting ring 23 which serves for locking the bush 21.

A supporting ring 24 which additionally forms a further stopper for thevertical piston 15 is placed on the side of the thrust bearing 27 whichis turned away from the vertical piston 15 for locking the bush 21.

The bush 21 is preferably made of bronze like the bushes 13 and 17described above.

The thrust bearing 27 bears on a horizontal cross bar 19. The horizontalcross bar 19 is connected with a vertical cross bar 26 which issupported on the hull. Additionally, a further horizontal cross bar 18which is fixed with a flange 25 on the thrust bearing 16 is situated inthe area of the thrust bearing 16 of the vertical piston 15. Thehorizontal piston (stern bottom) 18 is also connected with the verticalcross bar (rudder port) 26 and thus supports the part of the verticalpiston 15 on the hull which is situated above the hinged bolt 14.

Due to the construction described above, it is guaranteed that theforces acting onto the sliding swivel piston articulation 100 can betaken up by the thrust bearing 27 and by the flange 25 and can beintroduced into the vertical cross bar 26 over the horizontal cross bars18 and 19 and then into the hull.

An use of the rudder 20 with sliding swivel piston articulation 100 forbigger seagoing vessels is thus advantageously given.

List of Reference Numerals

-   100 Sliding swivel piston articulation-   10 Fin-   11 Horizontal piston/swivel pin-   12 Bearing housing-   13 Bush/lining-   14 Hinged bolt-   15 Vertical piston/articulation bolt-   16 Bearing housing-   17 Bush/lining-   18 Horizontal cross bar-   19 Horizontal cross bar-   20 Main rudder-   21 Bush/lining-   22 Bearing bush-   23 Supporting ring-   24 Supporting ring-   25 Flange-   26 Vertical cross bar-   27 Thrust bearing-   30 Pad

1. Rudder for seagoing vessels consisting of a main rudder (20) and a fin (10) forced guided by the main rudder (20), articulated thereon over a vertical piston (15), fin which is provided with a horizontal piston (11), whereby the vertical piston (15) and the horizontal piston (11) are connected with each other over a hinged bolt (14) to a sliding swivel piston articulation (100) and a bearing housing (16) of the vertical piston (15) is fixed on a hull, wherein the vertical piston (15) is supported on the hull by an additional thrust bearing (27).
 2. Rudder according to claim 1, wherein the thrust bearing (27) is placed on the side of the hinged bolt (14) which is opposite the vertical piston (15).
 3. Rudder according to claim 1, wherein the thrust bearing (27) has a bearing bush (22) with a bush (21) into which an end of the vertical piston (15) projecting over the hinged bolt (14) penetrates.
 4. Rudder according to claim 3, wherein the bush (21) has a supporting ring (23) on the side of the thrust bearing. (27) turned to the vertical piston (15).
 5. Rudder according to claim 3, wherein the bush (21) has a supporting ring (24) on the side of the thrust bearing (27) turned away from the vertical piston (15) which forms a movement stopper for the vertical piston (15).
 6. Rudder according to claim 3, wherein the bush (21) is made of bronze.
 7. Rudder according to claim 1, wherein the thrust bearing (27) is supported on the hull over a horizontal cross bar (19).
 8. Rudder according to claim 7, wherein the horizontal cross bar (18) is connected with a vertical cross bar (26) which is supported on the hull.
 9. Rudder according to claim 1, wherein the vertical cross bar (26) is connected over a further horizontal cross bar (19) with the bearing housing (16) of the vertical piston (15) ace (17). 